We’ve seen many a doom-and-gloom story about the economy and the luxury market recently, so here’s one offering a glimmer of hope. Unity Marketing’s latest Luxury Consumption Index showed a slight improvement, meaning that affluent people are starting to feel slightly better about their economic situations. They aren’t necessarily willing to spend again–over 40% of the respondents still said they planned on cutting their spending on luxury over the next 12 months–but nevertheless, any improvement in attitudes toward luxury should be welcomed. People need luxury–it’s a basic human need. They need to find ways to express themselves through it.

Unity Marketing’s chief economist Tom Bodenberg expressed a worry though:

The media’s focus on ‘recession chic’ – personal expression that deliberately excludes luxury goods – may leave a lingering distaste for conspicuous consumption and parading luxury labels.

I disagree–whether something is ‘recession chic’ depends on one’s personal interpretation, and this does not deliberately exclude luxury. Luxury companies that provide true value–financially, emotionally or otherwise–will emerge from the recession stronger than before.